#7
“I like all five of them.”
I hate all five of them… I said solemnly while adjusting my pencil case that was about to slip off. Once the Five Great Kings disappeared, people scattered to do their own things. We also went into the classroom that the Five Great Kings had entered.
As soon as we entered, we saw the neatly arranged art room. The art teacher was standing properly in front of the desk.
“Is everyone here?”
The art teacher asked in a crisp voice. The class president looked around once and nodded.
“You three there, sit down quickly.”
I hurriedly sat down. After seeing us take our seats, the teacher picked up a paper and explained:
“Today we’ll practice drawing by copying from photographs. Later, you’ll each bring your own photographs to practice with.”
The teacher explained step by step and also shared information that would help with drawing. After listening to the teacher for a while, I asked Hee-ae and In-sae:
“Do you like art?”
“No. I’m not good at it.”
Surprisingly, Hee-ae answered that he didn’t like art. I looked at Hee-ae’s golden eyes for a moment before turning my gaze away. The teacher turned the screen and displayed a large image of an apple.
“I hope you all try your best to draw it well.”
The teacher said while brushing her long hair to one side. I gripped my pencil with mock determination.
‘Since an apple is almost round, let me start by drawing a circle.’
I tried my best to draw straight lines that kept going crooked on their own. Hee-ae was still just fiddling with his pencil. Then, as if he had made up his mind, he slowly began to draw the apple.
‘Hee-ae really isn’t good at art.’
I looked at Hee-ae’s drawing with a bitter feeling. Hee-ae’s drawing was much worse than my own unskilled attempt. Hee-ae met my gaze. His yellow eyes seemed to crunch like the inside of an apple.
“I’m really terrible at this…”
“No, you’ll be able to do well if you keep practicing. Let’s just try our best for now.”
“Yeah, I’ll try my best… Shi-dan, you try hard too!”
Hee-ae answered, trailing off in the middle of his sentence. I sighed looking at my own disastrous drawing.
The drawings collected by the teacher were stacked neatly on the art room table. The teacher examined them one by one, flipping through them. The exclamation that came in the middle would undoubtedly be for one of the Five Great Kings’ work.
“Everyone put in effort and drew diligently. Well done.”
As the bell rang, the teacher continued:
“Come up to the art room for the next class as well.”
Clatter—a pencil rolled away, knocked by my jacket. I stopped packing my pencil case and walked over to pick up the pencil.
“Guys, just a moment.”
I picked up the pencil and stood up.
Flutter—
A piece of paper flew away on the sharp breeze through the open window. I instinctively picked up the fallen paper. On the paper was a crudely but carefully drawn picture.
Class 1-1 —- Han Cho-yeon, the name written in hurried handwriting at the corner. What are these crossed-out lines? Did he write his name wrong? It seems like he corrected it urgently without using an eraser.
Looking at other people’s things is not good. I put the paper back in its place and greeted the teacher. In-sae and Hee-ae had been waiting at the door and welcomed me cheerfully.
“My pencil fell.”
Hee-ae touched my hair.
“Dust, there was some on it.”
Hee-ae dusted off his hand. It must have gotten on when I was picking up the pencil.
***
Even at 5 PM, just as the sun was setting, there are still people looking for trouble. Today, Cho-yeon, who had adamantly refused and fled from the Five Great Kings, was standing in the dark alley on my way home. A group of delinquents with dyed hair in somewhat lighter colors were loitering in front of Cho-yeon.
Poke—one of them jabbed at Cho-yeon with a finger and said:
“Why are you ignoring someone when they’re talking to youuu?”
Is dragging out the last word and speaking annoyingly a classic characteristic of third-rate villains? Cho-yeon quickly bowed his head and said:
“I’m sorry.”
“Is sorry all there is to iiit?”
All I could see was Cho-yeon’s back, but I could easily imagine what expression he was making. A “What else do you want?” kind of face.
“I wasn’t going to do this, buuut~”
No. These guys deliberately picked a fight with just anyone.
“Won’t you get rid of those shitty eyes of youuurs?”
At this point in the story, one of the Five Great Kings should appear—that would be the standard. But looking around, there was only me on the street.
For now, the blond delinquent was just poking and speaking unpleasantly, but it seemed like a fight could break out at any moment. And protagonists tend to get caught up in trouble. I had no choice but to use a classic method.
I sighed as I played the police car sound I had downloaded earlier. It’s really childish, but the kids here are naive enough to fall for it. I made footstep sounds as if I had been running from a distance and said urgently:
“There have been some dangerous-looking people gathered here intimidating passersby!”
Ah, this makes no sense. I don’t even know how long these delinquents have been here or if they’ve actually been threatening pedestrians.
“Shit, consider yourself lucky.”
Despite such a flimsy ploy, the gang of delinquents hurriedly delivered their third-rate villain line and disappeared. Cho-yeon was also staring incredulously at the spot they had vacated.
“Are they idiots? To fall for something like that?”
Cho-yeon muttered to himself, showing genuine disbelief. It seemed he had noticed it was a recorded sound. After the thugs disappeared, I turned off the police car sound. Cho-yeon turned around and gave a perfunctory bow.
“Thank you.”
“They’re really showing their novel character traits…”
I thought while looking at the disappeared gang of delinquents.
“Ah!”
“Huh?”
I should rephrase that as “I said while looking at the disappeared gang of delinquents.” Right, there are times when thoughts accidentally slip out—I should keep my mouth shut. I forgot about that. Cho-yeon raised his head and pointed accusingly.
“What’s with you? Say that again.”
I spoke rapidly:
“Hello. Yes, you’re right. I’m also a transmigrator and know nothing about your situation. Don’t ask me why I transmigrated—I just woke up here.”
Cho-yeon blinked.
“You, how did you know that?”
Cho-yeon shouted with a bewildered expression, still pointing.
“An expression as deadpan as yours can only be made by a fellow transmigrator… No, wait, you just understood when I said ‘novel character.'”
“How can I believe you’re a transmigrator? Are you talking nonsense right now?”
“You heard me say ‘novel character.’ Need more proof?”
Cho-yeon flinched and lowered his accusatory finger. The fierce demeanor gradually subsided. But he still seemed skeptical.
“Was there a devil and a rose in the novel title? Han Cho-yeon is the villain who interferes with the Five Great Kings and the protagonist and gets caught. But I just skimmed it, so I don’t know what happens after that.”
I mentioned what little I remembered of Han Cho-yeon’s background. At my comment about skimming, Han Cho-yeon furrowed his brows as if dumbfounded.
The novel I read wasn’t something about roses, but a novel where you appear—that part was true. I couldn’t remember anything about what happened later because it got mixed up with all sorts of novels I had read.
‘Maybe it’s fortunate that I read it so casually.’
I thought as I watched Cho-yeon’s wavering pupils.
I sat on a bench drinking water I’d bought at a nearby convenience store. Cho-yeon also plopped down next to me unceremoniously.
I was strangely calm. Just moments ago I had revealed the fact of my transmigration in shock and blurted out whatever came to mind. Yet in this brief interval, I had become surprisingly composed.
Cho-yeon, sitting beside me, said nothing. He seemed to be carefully selecting his words. Forsythia flowers were blooming yellow. Here and there, buds that hadn’t yet opened were swelling yellow, on the verge of bursting. I stared blankly at the forsythia.
“This sucks.”
Cho-yeon roughly tousled his hair.
“Really does.”
With that final remark, Cho-yeon fell silent. I didn’t say anything either. As a result, we didn’t exchange any words until we parted. We gazed at the slowly fragmenting sunlight. It was a Tuesday in March, three weeks after school had started.
Before parting, I hesitated but saved the number Cho-yeon had given me. The three characters “Han Cho-yeon” appeared neatly in my contacts as it saved. Worried about someone finding out, I changed it to “Mom” and saved it again.
***
I rolled casually on the unfamiliar floor. Cho-yeon nudged me with his foot.
“What are you doing on that dirty floor? Get up.”
I didn’t bother to answer. I was just counting the pieces of furniture in the empty house one by one. One refrigerator, one bed in that room over there, one desk, one potted plant. It’s a rather empty house. Oh, that plant has grown well. It seems a bit bigger than when I came last time.
“Are the Five Great Kings still following you around?”
“They’re not gum, but they keep sticking to me. It’s so annoying.”
Cho-yeon spat out, looking thoroughly harassed. About two weeks had passed since Cho-yeon’s arrival. The Five Great Kings, who had shown interest, were now clinging to Cho-yeon, acting as if they had known him for years.
“You should have just clapped and shouted ‘Five Great Kings nim’ like I did from the start.”
“I’m already regretting it badly, you know.”
Cho-yeon sat down, casually sweeping the floor with his foot.
Since that day, I’ve often headed to Cho-yeon’s house. We didn’t pretend to know each other at school. It would be more accurate to say neither of us wanted to. And now, suddenly acting like we know each other would be strange anyway.
Nothing special happened to me during those two weeks. I still clapped and hung around with the fan club kids. The students regarded Cho-yeon as a different kind of being, similar to the Five Great Kings.
The students said: Since Cho-yeon nim came, the Five Great Kings nim have been talking more often.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
